Seismic Upgrades

Earthquakes are fact of life in the Bay Area and your house should be up to California standards.

Crisman Inc. specializes in upgrading your home with features that make it safer in the event of an earthquake.

In an earthquake typically two types of seismic failures occur: a house either slides off its concrete foundation, or the walls below the main floor areas of the house collapse.

In the first case, upgrading consists of strengthening the connections between the house and the foundation. In the second case the goal is to supplement any existing connections to the foundation and strengthen the sub-area supporting walls using plywood, rebar, concrete and other strong materials. The images below illustrate some of these upgrades

The ground floor is reinforced by beams and joists

The building structure is secured to the foundation to prevent movement during an eartquake

Steel brackets reinforce the connection of wood beams and the concrete foundation

Rebar and shotcrete is used to strengthen the walls of the building's ground floor